Liverpool's interest in the talented 21 year old - who claimed 11 goals and 17 assists on loan at Barcelona B in Spain's Segunda Division last term - has been well-signalled in the country, with an €8 million bid rumoured to have been already lodged at the Estadio Sanchez Pizjuan.

The La Liga side's canny transfer chief appeared to confirm the interest to Sevilla's in-house TV station, in comments repeated in Marca, but said he expected the Anfield club to return with a more attractive offer.

"If there has been interest from Liverpool, we are not going to deny that," Monchi said. "The numbers suggest that he is leaving. The player has received an important offer, but at the moment he is a Sevilla player. The first offer the club has is very good, but we are not satisfied yet."

Monchi was also happy to speculate about a potential summer move for last season's top scorer Alvaro Negredo, who reportedly favours a move to Atletico Madrid, while having other suitors including Napoli, Borussia Dortmund, Tottenham, West Ham and Everton.

"If there is not an important offer we are not going to sell Negredo," he said. "But we must not forget the player is also involved in this. But the numbers which are coming out, €15m, €17m or €18m are not enough."

Young left-back Santiago Luna, most recently on loan at Real Mallorca, was close to a permanent move to Aston Villa, said the executive, whose real name is Ramon Rodriguez Verdejo.

"The truth is we are close to closing his transfer to Aston Villa," he said.

Midfielders Ivan Rakitic and Gary Medel were not for sale, while the club hoped Geoffrey Kondogbia would stay despite his complicated ownership situation involving third party investors the Doyen Group and reported interest from big clubs including Real Madrid, Arsenal and Juventus.

"He is 100 per cent with Sevilla, we have his federative rights," Monchi said. "If an offer comes we are obliged to purchase 50 per cent if we want to keep him. He, his father, Doyen and Sevilla, we all think it would be good for him to stay at the club, because he will grow here. We are sure he will come on even more next season."

After enduring a tricky start to his Manchester United career, perhaps it is fair that Marcos Rojo celebrated so boisterously as he watched his first professional club Estudiantes beat fierce rivals Gimnasia